Joshua 8:6

They will pursue us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ So as we flee from them,

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Joshua outlines a tactical ambush to his troops, instructing them to feign a rout to lure the men of Ai out from their fortified city.

The words — The Hebrew verb יָצְאוּ (ya.tze.'U) means "they will come out," paired with עַד (ad) "until" and הַתִּיקֵנוּ (ha.ti.Ke.'nu) "we have drawn out," establishing the conditional sequence of the feigned withdrawal.

The thread — Judges 20:32 records the same tactical deception when the Benjamites declare, “We are defeating them as before,” while Israelites retreat to draw them out.

Why it lands — The text commands a deliberate, calculated retreat that requires discipline over fear, showing how divine strategy often operates through human obedience to counterintuitive orders.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְיָצְא֣וּve./ya.tze.'Uand/ they will come out אַחֲרֵ֗ינוּ'a.cha.Rei./nuafter/ us עַ֣ד'aduntil הַתִּיקֵ֤נוּha.ti.Ke./nuhave drawn out/ we אוֹתָם֙'o.Ta/m<obj.>/ them מִן־min-from הָעִ֔ירha./'Irthe/ city כִּ֣יkifor יֹֽאמְר֔וּyo.me.Ruthey will say נָסִ֣יםna.Sim[they are] fleeing לְפָנֵ֔ינוּle./fa.Nei./nu<to>/ before/ us כַּאֲשֶׁ֖רka./'a.Sherjust/ as בָּרִֽאשֹׁנָ֑הba./ri.sho.Nahat the/ first [time]וְנַ֖סְנוּve./Nas.nuand/ we will flee לִפְנֵיהֶֽם׃li/f.nei./Hem<to>/ before/ them

King James Version

(For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them.

Cross-references

Exodus 14:3 For Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are wandering the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in.’
Exodus 15:9 The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’
Judges 20:32 “We are defeating them as before,” said the Benjamites. But the Israelites said, “Let us retreat and draw them away from the city onto the roads.”
Ecclesiastes 8:11 When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.
Ecclesiastes 9:12 For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them.